Medication carts are frequently used in hospitals, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities for delivery of medication on a continuing basis to patients within the facility. Typically, medication carts are stocked at a pharmacy where individual doses of medication for each patient are metered and stored in separate trays or bins which are carried by the cart. Medication carts are supported on castors and are pushed by nurses from one patient's room to another where each patient's tray or bin is accessed for delivery of medication.
It will be appreciated that in large hospital and nursing care facilities, for example, the pharmacy and patient rooms may be located in different wings which may require a nurse to move the medication cart over long distances with intervening steep inclines and declines in the path of the cart. To alleviate the physical strain associated with moving heavy medication carts through a care facility, U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,535 discloses a motorized drive unit which is adapted to support the underside of a medication cart for automated movement of the cart through the facility. Direction of the medication cart is controlled by a central console which uses a network of buried cables which operate with the driving unit to define pre-determined routes for the cart to follow.
While the motorized drive unit of U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,535 provides self-propelled motion to medication carts, it has several disadvantages. The disclosed driving unit must be positioned in proper registration with the underside of the cart before it can be raised to lift the cart off of its supporting castors. The driving unit includes multiple magnetic sensors and lifting platforms to achieve the lifting function which increases the cost and complexity of the driving unit and operation of the medication cart. Due to the required lifting operation of the driving unit to mate with the medication cart, the cart is not readily adaptable to switch between manual and self-propelled modes of operation. Moreover, the medication cart must follow pre-determined routes of travel throughout the facility and is not therefore freely movable by a nurse in a variety of different directions as may be required.
Accordingly, there is a need for a driving unit to provide self-propelled motion to a medication cart which reduces physical strain associated with movement of the cart throughout a hospital, nursing home or other long term care facility. There is also a need for a self-propelled medication cart which is readily adaptable to switch between manual and self-propelled modes of operation. There is yet another need for a self-propelled medication cart which is freely movable in a variety of directions.